SYSTEMD-ESCAPE(1) systemd-escape SYSTEMD-ESCAPE(1)
NAME
systemd-escape - Escape strings for usage in systemd unit names
SYNOPSIS
systemd-escape [OPTIONS...] [STRING...]
DESCRIPTION
systemd-escape may be used to escape strings for inclusion in systemd
unit names. The command may be used to escape and to undo escaping of
strings.
The command takes any number of strings on the command line, and will
process them individually, one after another. It will output them
separated by spaces to stdout.
By default, this command will escape the strings passed, unless
--unescape is passed which results in the inverse operation being
applied. If --mangle is given, a special mode of escaping is applied
instead, which assumes the string is already escaped but will escape
everything that appears obviously non-escaped.
For details on the escaping and unescaping algorithms see the relevant
section in systemd.unit(5).
OPTIONS
The following options are understood:
--suffix=
Appends the specified unit type suffix to the escaped string. Takes
one of the unit types supported by systemd, such as "service" or
"mount". May not be used in conjunction with --template=, --unescape
or --mangle.
Added in version 216.
--template=
Inserts the escaped strings in a unit name template. Takes a unit
name template such as foobar@.service. With --unescape, expects
instantiated unit names for this template and extracts and unescapes
just the instance part. May not be used in conjunction with
--suffix=, --instance or --mangle.
Added in version 216.
--path, -p
When escaping or unescaping a string, assume it refers to a file
system path. This simplifies the path (leading, trailing, and
duplicate "/" characters are removed, no-op path "." components are
removed, and for absolute paths, leading ".." components are
removed). After the simplification, the path must not contain "..".
This is particularly useful for generating strings suitable for
unescaping with the "%f" specifier in unit files, see
systemd.unit(5).
Added in version 216.
--unescape, -u
Instead of escaping the specified strings, undo the escaping,
reversing the operation. May not be used in conjunction with
--suffix= or --mangle.
Added in version 216.
--mangle, -m
Like --escape, but only escape characters that are obviously not
escaped yet, and possibly automatically append an appropriate unit
type suffix to the string. May not be used in conjunction with
--suffix=, --template= or --unescape.
Added in version 216.
--instance
With --unescape, unescape and print only the instance part of an
instantiated unit name template. Results in an error for an
uninstantiated template like ssh@.service or a non-template name
like ssh.service. Must be used in conjunction with --unescape and
may not be used in conjunction with --template.
Added in version 240.
-h, --help
Print a short help text and exit.
--version
Print a short version string and exit.
EXAMPLES
To escape a single string:
$ systemd-escape 'Hallöchen, Meister'
Hall\xc3\xb6chen\x2c\x20Meister
To undo escaping on a single string:
$ systemd-escape -u 'Hall\xc3\xb6chen\x2c\x20Meister'
Hallöchen, Meister
To generate the mount unit for a path:
$ systemd-escape -p --suffix=mount "/tmp//waldi/foobar/"
tmp-waldi-foobar.mount
To generate instance names of three strings:
$ systemd-escape --template=systemd-nspawn@.service 'My Container 1' 'containerb' 'container/III'
systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service systemd-nspawn@containerb.service systemd-nspawn@container-III.service
To extract the instance part of an instantiated unit:
$ systemd-escape -u --instance 'systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service'
My Container 1
To extract the instance part of an instance of a particular template:
$ systemd-escape -u --template=systemd-nspawn@.service 'systemd-nspawn@My\x20Container\x201.service'
My Container 1
EXIT STATUS
On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
SEE ALSO
systemd(1), systemd.unit(5), systemctl(1)
systemd 257.9 SYSTEMD-ESCAPE(1)
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